I was not surprised that I enjoyed reading this book. 

Dan Sullivan tops the list of most influential business-related coaches. 

Benjamin Hardy tops the list of authors on being an intentional human. He also hit a new gear this year with Personality Isn’t Permanent: Break Free From Self Limiting Beliefs and Rewrite Your Story.

The team is rounded out by Tucker Max: co-founder and CEO of Scribe Media. Scribe seems to have touched a huge number of the books I’ve found valuable—and they’ve certainly touched more than a few best-sellers. 

So I expected a well done product and jumped at the chance to do an advanced review.

What did surprise me was how much I liked the book in my second read. 

I’ll share some of the highlights.

OVERALL

This book goes deeper than I expected. I was curious about the title because there is a concept of “unique abilities” in Strategic Coach that feels a little bit like personality/talent mindset. I was curious how the author of Personality Isn’t Permanent would reconcile this.

At the same time, the Impact Filter—a free thinking tool from Strategic Coach—is a great principle-based thinking tool. I was super curious at how that played into the book.

The book drills into the Impact Filter’s main use case: teaming up with others.

But it doesn’t stop at “team up with others.” 

And it isn’t a study of best practices. 

It leans into the critical area of mindset. 

And it explores the role mindset plays in effective teamwork. 

DIGGING IN

It turns out that how you think about teamwork has a massive impact on your ability to create great teams. 

When it comes to doing that, the book makes the case that it’s worth the time to find tools that help you frame the problems you want to solve in clear terms.   

The point of the title: you have to focus on that “what” level—what is the results you need, what does success look like—without getting lost trying to figure out every detail of how to get it.

Given that my career has been a hands-on study of how companies and teams work from top to bottom, this was an impactful insight to think about. I don’t regret my learning. It’s still true that growth of outcomes can only happen in proportion to your ability to team up. 

And in the book’s focus on the essentials of teaming up and how critical teamwork is to expanding any individuals impact, I may have some confirmation bias. The book aligns with my personal principles and those of our company.

I found it energizing and immediately put some ideas into practice with great effect.

I’d guess readers already familiar with the practices of Strategic Coach can similarly find their practices of these concepts re-energized. 

WHO THIS BOOK ADDRESSES

On the surface, the book is geared toward leaders, specifically entrepreneurs—the potential clients of strategic coach. That said, it doesn’t come across as salesy and it stands on its own. 

And the concepts are not limited in value so that only entrepreneurs or individuals contemplating entrepreneurship will get immediate use.

The ideas fit with broader studies done by larger companies about what helps or hinders teamwork. 

So whatever the reader’s focus, if you are delegating or trying to define direction alongside a team, this book’s message is on-point and immediately actionable. 

STRUCTURE

The book’s structure and tone focus on the reader. 

This seems to be a Scribe approach to organizing books. And it’s one I like. 

Each chapter opens with an easy-to-remember story that serves as a case study. It’s followed by an investigation of the principles in play and what we know from science. Then, there is a bulleted summary of key takeaways for each chapter. 

IN SUMMARY

Sullivan’s experience and teachings on the principles come through well. As does Hardy’s insights on the research and how to organize this information for the reader.   

The real magic happens in the overlap of circles between their goals. Somewhere in that overlap, Sullivan’s goal of advancing the principles of his Strategic Coach program and Hardy’s enthusiasm for applying science for personal growth lies a great formula for connecting with teams and even broader communities.

This book, even if you find the content familiar, will help you level up your leadership skills.

You can pick up a copy using this link (ResultMaps does not receive any commission or fees).